The Thor franchise has been sort of the “runt of the litter” for Marvel Studios, without a real guiding hand like The Russo Bros. or (at the time) Jon Favreau to steer that series of films, they’ve basically coasted on the great chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and not a lot else…though pecs and biceps may go a long way for some.

But after Kenneth Branagh and Alan Taylor, Marvel is hoping a third time is a charm as according to The Wrap, What We Do In The Shadows director Taika Waititi has won the job, and is now in the negotiation phase to take over what has been described by Kevin Feige as:

This is a very important movie for us in Phase 3. We plan on taking Thor to another level. It picks up where we leave Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron and impacts everything that comes after.

Waititi’s work on the vampire comedy Shadows made for a critical hit, and a film that I remember was absolutely cracking the guy up next to me on the plane to San Diego Comic Con (a well-known artist at that). He’s also directed episodes of my much-missed Flight of the Conchords for HBO, and penned the script for Disney’s upcoming Moana. Is he the answer to Marvel’s biggest achilles heel so far? We’ll likely find out come July of 2017.

Entertainment Editor for The Beat covering film, television and the occasional comic book. His work can also be found at GeekRex.com and can be heard on the GeekRex podcast. Also, your go-to Grant Morrison/Love & Rockets/Hellboy/Legion of Super-Heroes expert.